I had asked Terry O'Neil, the cap guru for RealTeam.Com this question:
"When the NFL raises the minimum salaries, does it mean that the players who signed prior contracts get a salary raise?? For example, it was reported that Damien Woody's salary was scheduled to be $325K. Is it now $389K because $389K is now the minimum salary for players with 2 credited seasons??

He answered:
"That's right. Many contracts are signed with both sides knowing that future years at minimum salary will inevitably rise 8-to-10% each year. My Ricky Williams deal in New Orleans was such a case. He signed for eight years of minimum salary, including the option year. Both sides knew that his minimum would rise each season.

Any contracted player whose salary is below the minimum for his number of credited seasons is automatically raised to the correct minimum at the start of each League year -- March 2, this year. T."

I had asked Terry O'Neil, the cap guru for RealTeam.Com this question:
"Are released players counted among the Top 51 players?? For example, do Todd Rucci, Hank Thomas, Larry Whigham, and Chris Slade take up slots among the Top 51 players for the Patriots??"

He answered:
"Their "dead money" counts against the total, but the players, themselves, do not occupy positions in the Top 51. Those must be 51 active or tendered players. Happy to help you in this
area -- it's complicated. T."

Salary Cap 101 The Houston Texans held a Salary Cap 101 class for the local media at the Radisson Astrodome in January, 2002. Texans general manager Charley Casserly, director of negotiations Dan Ferens and manager of player information Tom Halligan conducted the two-hour class. The link takes you to the outline that they used. If you can only read one thing about the cap, READ THIS!!!

Salary Cap Definition

The salary cap is the absolute maximum each club may spend on player salaries in a capped year. For 2004, that amounts to 64.75 percent of leaguewide "Defined Gross Revenues" (divided by 32 teams), made up of preseason, regular-season and postseason gate receipts and radio and television rights. The cap is in effect throughout a year. A team can never go over the current year's cap figure. From March 1 to September 7 (the day before the season begins), the Patriots's top 51 salaried players count towards the cap, plus pro-rated signing bonuses, incentives, etc., but not base salaries of other players on the roster up to 88. Once the season begins, all salaries on the Patriots's roster (the 53 players on the regular roster, the 8 practice squad players, players on the IR, players on the PUP) count towards the cap. With the 52nd and the 53rd players usually making the rookie minimum of $230,000 and a practice squad player making the minimum of $4,350 a week for 17 weeks, the Patriots must have be under the cap by at least $1,051,600 in order to have a 53-man roster and a 8-man practice squad. Please note that there is no requirement to have a practice squad. The Patriots must spend no more than $80,522,846 The minimum salary cap is $67,337,000. Player benefits are $12,865,000 per club above the salary cap number.Please also note that if a veteran is on the Week 10 roster he will get his entire salary for the year even if he is released after Week 10. For a short overview on the salary cap and free agency please visit NFL.Com's Free Agency Q&A page. For a more complete examination of the salary cap please visit The Complete Collective Bargaining Agreement

From ESPN.Com's Len Pasquarelli:
"The rookie pool is, essentially, a cap within a salary cap. It represents the maximum in aggregate salary cap value that a team is permitted to invest in its draft choices and also the undrafted free agents it signs. It is included in, not exclusive of, the team's overall spending limit of $71.101 million for the 2002 campaign." .."Because of the so-called "rule of 51" -- which stipulates that only the 51 highest-paid players on a team's roster count against its salary cap during the offseason -- clubs will not have to carve out the entire difference between their available cap space and rookie pool allocation. For the most part, teams' middle- and low-round draft choices don't rate among the 51 highest-paid players on the roster and make no dent in the salary cap." This year the Patriots' rookie pool allocation is $2.62 million.

Quoting Section 7 of Article 38 of the CBA, " For purposes of calculating Credited Seasons under this Article only, a player shall earn one Credited Season for each season during which he was on, or should have been on, full pay status for a total of three or more regular season games, but which, irrespective of the player's pay status, shall not include games for which this player was on: (i) the Exempt Commissioner Permission List; (ii) the Reserve PUP List as a result of a non-football injury; (iii) a Club's Practice or Developmental Squad; or (iv) a Club's Injured Reserve List."

Quoting Section 1 of Article 18 of the CBA,
"(a) For the purposes of calculating Accrued Seasons under this Agreement
a player shall receive one Accrued Season for each season during which he was on, or should have been on, full pay status for a total of six or more regular season games, but which, irrespective of the player's pay status, shall not include games for which the player was on: (i) the Exempt Commissioner Permission List, (ii) the Reserve PUP List as a result of a nonfootball injury, or (iii) a Club's Practice or Development Squad."

How many accrued seasons a player has also affects his eligibility for the practice squad. According to the CBA, "the practice squad shall consist of the following players, provided that they have not served more than one previous season on a Practice Squad: (i) players who do not have an Accrued Season of NFL experience; and (ii) free agent players who were on the Active List for fewer than nine regular season games during their only Accrued Season(s). No player may be a practice squad player for more than two seasons.

If you have any corrections, suggestion, question, and/or comments, please feel free to ask me a question on the PatsFans.Com message board